Is there a way to stop Windows Explorer from running automatically on startup?

[Fortitude]

I only really use my laptop for gaming and some light coding. I don't really use windows explorer very often, and it is just another useless task for me most of the time. I usually just end it in task manager, but that's getting kinda old. Is there a way to keep explorer from launching in the background upon startup? I want JUST steam big picture to start. I would get SteamOS but it's linux based and I can't play most of my games on that, so I just want steam to startup at startup, while only essential windows programs run. Any suggestions? all help is appreciated!

 

[johnbl]

you can replace the shell but I have never tried it. It is a registry setting. Maybe look at this:
http://superuser.com/questions/435275/can-you-disable-windows-explorer-from-starting-with-windows

I think it should work and would be used to lock down a public computer (I think)